Monday, February 4, 2013

The Schoolgirl preview

Here's an excerpt from The Schoolgirl, the first book in my Enchantress trilogy. It's about Minnie Hilden, a ten-year-old girl attending the Sorcerer's Academy of the kingdom of Middon.

One morning near the end of Summer I woke when it was still
dark. I lay in bed trying to fall asleep
again for some time before I finally sat up.
I slipped my feet into my warm slippers and pulled my robe around my
nightgown and peeked through the curtains over the window by my bed. The moon had set, but it was still very dark
outside. I picked up the clay Samuel had
given me and quietly slipped out of the room and down the stairs into the main
room of our dorm. Sitting before the
fire, I practiced shaping while letting my mind wander to the many things I
could do once I mastered this technique.

As I molded the clay I noticed a small piece of paper by the
fire. I picked it up and found that it
was a letter addressed to me. “Miss
Minerva Hilden,” it read, “Your presence is requested at a school meeting at
sunrise on the twenty-seventh day of the month of the Sun. You have been appointed to represent the
first level students. The meeting will
be held in the last room on the fourth hall on the third floor of the north
wing of the academy. I remain yours
respectfully, Samuel Truman.”

“The twenty-seventh day on the month of the Sun,” I muttered
to myself. Suddenly it dawned on
me. “That’s today!” I said aloud. I ran to the window and saw the sun just
peeking over the horizon. I raced up to
my room and changed in a hurry. As I dressed,
Molly opened her eyes.

“What are you doing?” she asked sleepily.

“I’m going to a meeting,” I said hurriedly. “I’ll be back soon.”

I dashed back down to the main room in my dormitory and out
into the freezing halls. I didn't expect
to be so cold in the summer, and my mind immediately raced back to the warm
boots at the bottom of my trunk of clothing.
I almost turned back for them, but I was already late. The cold forced me to run to keep warm, so I
reached the north wing quickly. I began
climbing the cold stone steps, and at once I wanted to stay on the carpeted
halls on the main floor. At least the
rugs had kept some of the cold from leaking through my thin shoes. Now there was no extra layer between my
thinly clad feet and the hard, cold stone.

Slowly I climbed three flights of stairs. I hadn't been in this wing of the building
often, and the stairs were much steeper than in the rest of the building. I had to lift my short legs high to take even
one step. Panting from the long climb, I
finally reached the third floor and began to make my way down the single, long
hallway. Every so often I would find
other halls stemming from this main hallway.
I looked down at the letter I still held. The last room on the
fourth hall, I read. I looked back over my
shoulder to count the halls I had passed.
In the dim light of the torches on the wall I could barely see the
stairwell I had emerged from. How many
halls were there? Two? Was there another one? I strained my eyes to see, not wanting to
walk back through the dark hall. Yes,
there were two. So I still had further
to go. But at least there were carpets
on the floor.

Timidly I continued on through the darkness. I passed another hall. I was going to the next one. The light from the torches on the walls
barely reached a few feet, so there were long stretches of total darkness. I finally reached the fourth hall. The hallway I was in continued further, and I
glanced around warily before turning. I
stood right below one of the few torches to check the letter again. The last room, it said. There were doors on
this hall. They were all of the same
dark wood. I slid my hand down one and
felt how smooth it was. But it seemed
smooth in the wrong way, not as though it was well worn, but like it was
forgotten. It was the smoothness of
something that had been formed to perfection and then abandoned. I felt
something haunting in this hall; something more than the uncanny way the other
hall had been empty. I told myself that
few people were up this early, so it made sense that no one would be there, but
it still didn't feel right. There was a
reason that this part of the building was empty, and it wasn't the early
hour. That, I was certain of.

After a while there were no more doors, but the hall went on
into the darkness. I glanced around for
a moment before going on. There could be
another room further down the hall. A
few steps farther I saw a dark spot on the wall. I looked back over my shoulder, wanting to
run. Was that blood? Biting my lip, I forced myself to take
another step, then another.

I reached the end of the hall without seeing another
room. Here the hall turned into a new
hall, but I didn't go down it. I turned
to go back down the hall I had come from to find the last door and stopped in
my tracks. There was a wooden door in
the stone wall. Not a smooth door like
the ones I had seen before, but a door made of gnarled, beaten wood. It was old and battered, but it was certainly
the last door on that hallway. Why
hadn't I seen it before? Softly, I
rapped twice on the door, but I was met with a booming sound. I jumped away, frightened by the noise that
had come from my small hand. Then I
heard a voice, quiet and old, but not quite gentle. “Come in,” it said.

I reached for the doorknob, but the door swung open before I
could touch it. Slowly, I walked into
the room and looked around. It had a
large desk with a wooden chair behind it and the walls were lined with shelves
full of books. It looked like an
ordinary office. But where was everyone?
I wasn't the only one who had been invited to the meeting.

I heard a slam as the door swung shut behind me. Filling with
dread, I slowly turned to see Head Professor Hurtain standing between me and
the door. “Miss Hilden,” he said, “How
nice to see you.” His voice was harsh and raspy, and I took a step back.

He stepped toward me.
“You’re late,” he pointed out. I
opened my mouth to speak, but no sound emerged.
“What? Surprised to see me instead of Samuel Truman?” When I still
didn't speak he went on. “Don’t you know
what his handwriting looks like? That note was not from him.”

“I- I-”

“You what? Are you
frightened, Minnie?”

I swallowed hard.
“No,” I croaked.

He laughed a maniac laugh, cruel, insane and evil, and I
started to cry. He stepped toward me again and I backed away, only thinking to
stay away from him. Too late, I realized
he had me backed into a corner with no escape. “Scared now?”

I shook my head, but my tears gave me away too easily and he
laughed again, stepping closer, but this time there was nowhere for me to run.
I stared into his eyes, captivated by fear. I could smell his breath, so disgusting
I thought the scent alone would kill me. I searched the room with my eyes for
some chance of escape, but there was not even space for me to duck under his
arm or between his legs to run. I didn't
know what he was going to do, but I could sense that his plans were
terrible.

“So, Minerva,” he growled, “Any last words?” An evil smile
spread across his face as the impact of his words hit me. I would die
there. I was going to die. My tears flowed with even more force as I
realized that my short life was about to end.
What would he do to me? What was
it like? Did it hurt?

He began moving his hands in a strange manner. It looked as though he was doing some sort of
shaping, though nothing like what Samuel had shown me. But what did that matter? It would kill me, whatever he was doing. I felt an evil power seizing me and
tightening around me. Invisible bands of
power were squeezing me, forcing me inside myself. Then I felt power shooting inside me. As the bands pulled in, the power inside forced
itself outward, tearing me apart, and I felt as though I was exploding. My vision clouded, and for a moment I could
barely breathe. My head rang, and what I
could see of the room spun around me. My
knees were so weak I could barely stand.
Then I fell to the floor, and everything went black.

1 comment:

Emma! I finally read your first chapter (and the added chapter!). So well-written! You captured my attention right away. I found myself shallow breathing while reading - almost like I was Minnie and not wanting to be discovered! I have to say that the other chapter is very exciting - but how can you leave me with the phrase: "...everything went black." I need to see what happens!!!!

About Me

Hi! I'm Emma. I'm 16 years old, and I'm a knitter and writer. I love to write fantasy and poetry, and I'm currently working on a fantasy trilogy. I've been knitting for over 7 years now, and I've started designing my own patterns. Last year I finished my first successful designing project: my very own knitted nativity.